[Avodah] davening outdoors

[Danny Schoemann]

R' Eli Turkel <eliturkel at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> ROY did not quote this KSA and I assume does not hold of it.
> Again he said that first priority is to daven in a shul. But if one is on
> a trip and it is not feasible then he allowed davening outdoors and did
> not mention anything about standing between trees.
>
> In my experience of traveling in EY it is common to see groups
> of religious Jews of all stripes davening mincha outdoors and I dont recall
> people looking for trees

Like [almost] everything in the KSA the source of the KSA is on SA OC
90:5: "One should not pray in an open area like a field since in a
private place the fear of The King is upon him and his heart is broken
and subdued."

The Pri Megodim and Chayei Odom (quoted in the MB) say that one should
try stand between some trees for the effect of some "enclosure".

The MB also says that it's implied that the Zohar says that  one
should Davka pray in a building.

I'm sure ROY is aware of these sources.

Obviously praying at the roadside is better than missing the time for
davening, but it doesn't make it the preferred method.

BTW: having lots of people do it does not prove anything; actually on
the way up to Jerusalem they have created a Mincha rest stop (at
Shoresh IIRC) - and up North I've seen various signs inviting people
to join for Mincha-before-sunset.

For that matter on Motzai Shabbos many people have "a Minyan in the
lobby" - against the explicit Halocho that one should (1) daven in
shul and (2) one should have a fixed place to always daven. (And
that's probably why the Halocho to say Veyiten LeCho got lost; there
are no Sidurim in the lobby. [SA OC 295:0 - Remo])

- Danny